Berklee students learn the business of music

Sunday

May 18, 2014 at 8:30 PMMay 18, 2014 at 8:30 PM

By Ed SymkusDaily News correspondent

Quick! Name three record labels. It’s not an easy thing to do these days, even though being signed to a big label used to be the only way musicians could get their music heard or make a living. Of course, labels do still exist – the remaining majors are Sony, Universal, and Warner Music – but it’s become much more of an indie D.I.Y. world for upcoming bands and performers.Yet over at Berklee College of Music, students are still learning about and practicing old school methods of how to get someone’s music heard by the masses. Heavy Rotation Records is both a senior practicum for music-business majors, and a label that releases a compilation album each year.Jeff Dorenfeld, a faculty advisor at Berklee, learned the ropes of the music business during a stint as manager of the band Boston and while serving as Ozzy Osbourne’s tour accountant. When he arrived at Berklee, more than a decade ago, one of his first goals was to take the then-new Heavy Rotation Records in a different direction."There were two records out," he said. "But I changed what they were doing. They were finding local club bands. I came to Berklee and thought, ‘If I’m in a candy store, I’m not gonna go across the street to the cigar store to buy a candy bar. I’m sitting here, so why would I go outside to look for artists when I’ve got 4,000 of them running around?’ "Dorenfeld, who obviously knew a little something about the music business, set up a three-record deal with Epic/Sony Records, in which the school would get $100,000 for each record."I told them we’re not gonna sell a lot of records, we’re not gonna have hit songs, but no one else has ever done this, and it’ll be a really cool project. So we did the first record when we had that big budget because of Epic/Sony, and we recorded it.""But that first one came out just when [the music sharing service] Napster happened, and I did not get the next two records. I knew we couldn’t record on our budget so we came up with another idea: ‘Dorm Sessions.’ I thought, ‘What are the kids doing on their own? They’re making their own recordings, and we could just master them. That’s what’s on the ‘Dorm Sessions’ albums.""Dorm Sessions Vol. 1" was released in 2003. This year marked the release of "Dorm Sessions 9." The albums are actually the fruits of the labor that goes on in Dorenfeld’s Heavy Rotation Records class."We go over all aspects of the music business," he said. "I break the students up into departments. We set up a group of A&R (artists and repertoire) people, who are the ones who go out and get all the submissions and set it up. We have a marketing group, we have a touring group that sets up our shows, we have two co-directors, and a project manager. So there are all these different groups in class."We listen to the music that’s been submitted by current and former Berklee students, we look at all of their social media, we check them out live if we get the opportunity, and then through a couple of semesters, we start whittling it down. We go through hundreds of artists, then pick out the eight or nine who are going to be on the record. We want kind of a cross section of music, so we’ll do a little of everything. We put together and promote a concert in February, which is when the record is released."Over the years, Dorenfeld has developed a relationship with the Chicago-based Lollapalooza Music Festival, which has resulted in him bringing six interns to work there, and one band that he picks at the February concert, to play there. (This year he’s taking "Dorm Session 9’s" electronic R&B artist Oyinda.)"I don’t consider it just a label anymore," he said. "It’s really an entertainment company.""Dorm Sessions 9" features nine performers, each with two songs on the album. Two of those are by Analog Heart, who contributed the melodic rockers "Elephant Song" and "Backlight." The trio consists of Haverhill-based singer-songwriter-guitarist Liz Bills, Littleton drummer Austin Ferrante, and guitarist-songwriter Jesse Cohen, a Natick native who lives in Westborough."We’re a modern rock band," said Cohen. "Liz went to Berklee and I went to Berklee, and we all met through craigslist."Analog Heart recorded a self-titled, self-funded four-song EP that was released in October, 2012. The two songs on "Dorm Sessions 9" were on that EP."After Liz finished Berklee, she competed on ‘American Idol’," said Cohen. "That got the attention of Joe James, who works in the Berklee p/r group. He had us play at a Berklee showcase. People from Heavy Rotation Records saw us there, and said we should be on the next CD."So, what are the plans of Dorenfeld and the hopes of Analog Heart?"This summer we’ll start taking submissions for ‘Dorm Sessions 10’," said Dorenfeld. "Hopefully we’ll have it all picked and done by November, and it’ll be out in February.""I would like this compilation to be a calling card," said Cohen, who still has faith in the music industry system that once worked so well. "If we were signed by a label, we could be distributed to a nationwide audience. That would be nice."Analog Heart plays at the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge on May 19. For more information on Heavy Rotation Records, visit www.heavyrotationmusic.com

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